2 comments:

Just curious if the States have any kind of general index for microcaps, and if yes, what their PE ratio is. In the UK, most of what would be considered microcaps trade on the AIM (Alternative Investment Market).

I don't know of a general index for microcaps.One approach to track performance of the micro cap sector may be to use the DFA U.S. MICRO CAP SERIES DFSCX;

This description of the DFSCX (DFA U.S. Micro Cap Series) was taken from morningstar.com

"Started in 1981, the strategy is based on academic research, which argues that smaller-cap stocks outperform the broader market long term. The firm also believes that stock prices already reflect all relevant information, so it doesn't pick one stock over another based on proprietary forecasts. The main criterion used to construct the micro-cap portfolio is simply the stock's market cap itself. Specifically, the fund starts beneath the U.S. market's 1,500th largest-cap stock and extends as low as $10 million in market cap. This typically equates to the smallest 5% of the market and at the moment yields an average market cap of around $500 million. That's above the median for those funds with a micro-cap mandate, though still well below the typical $2 billion market cap cut-off for a small cap.The process also is not heavy on financial health criteria, other than prohibiting firms in financial distress, and it sweeps in more than 2,000 stocks. The stocks, which are market-cap weighted, end up reflecting just about all the market's sectors and equity styles. However, in 2010, it began excluding what it terms "extreme growth" stocks because DFA believes value outperforms growth. Lastly, the fund can wait for the best terms when trading partly because it doesn't have to be in any particular stock. It's not indexed, and DFA believes there is high substitutability among micro-caps."